Woman of Man: There and Back again
by Spirit De Mortis
Summary: a woman landing in Middle Earth just before the dwarves meet Bilbo in Bag End. Her presence there throws things off and while they are on their journey to Erebor, they try to find a way to send her back home. She grows attached to several of the dwarves, especially Balin. when they find a way to send her home, can she bring herself to leave, knowing some of their eventual fates?
1. An unexpected journey

**I have loved The Hobbit, like a lot of people, for a very long time. I read the book and watch the Rankin/Bass movie at least one or twice a year and listen to the audiobook a couple times too a year. I have always wanted to get lost in that world and when reading the book, how I envision the dwarves is vastly different from what I saw in my head and certainly not the way they appeared in the cartoon or the recent release of the movie. This little ficlet is a release of frustration on my part because I really want to be there... so if I have to write myself there then so be it. I know this will likely be a weird thing to read but I thought it would be sort of fun too. So just take the journey with me and see. I have wanted (because I just love Balin to death for different reason than liking someone like Thorin or Kili and Fili or Bofur...)**

**Title: Woman of Man: An Unexpected Journey**

**Rating: PG for action and some perilous scenes **

**Pairing: none**

**written by: Me**

**Summery: a woman landing in Middle Earth just before the dwarves meet Bilbo in Bag End. Her presence there throws things off a little and while they are on their journey to Erebor, they try to find a way to send her back home. She grows attached to several of the dwarves, Balin being the most prominent. So by the time they do manage to find a way to send her back, she has second ideas about going because not only does she adore and love Balin, she loves the other too and fears for them because she knows what will happen. Will she have the strength to turn away from them and let their original course take its action or will she try to save them? Read on!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters except the OC in it. She is not romantically involved with anyone. If she does end up liking one of them, it won't interrupt with the story and it won't be a big huge deal. This is action and fantasy not a romance story as I am usually apt to write. She has an emotional tie with Balin (as cute as he is, I can't even think of people writing anything sexual about him) but that will be her focal point, purely platonic... not romantic. And lets face it... he is frigging adorable! You know you squee'd as soon as the door opened and you seen his cute little face and huge white beard all curled up at the bottom! Don't deny it! He was the closest to what I saw the dwarves actually looking like. Hope you enjoy! :) **

(edited for spelling mistakes)

The blanket Angel received for Christmas was rolled up and stuffed under her head as she lay on her side on her bed and looked out her bedroom window to the frosted air outside, the electric heater on full blast, warming her small room. She was mostly hidden under her faded old cartoonish blue blanket with robotic figures on it. Only the very top of her red hair could be seen and blue eyes reflecting the very low ambient light of the moon shining down on the hardened snow outside, casting her night dark bedroom in a soft blue radiance that is only there when the moon touches snow.

She didn't normally have her blinds open to the world; she preferred to hide from it. Often the world she knew was cruel to her so she wanted nothing to do with it. She, like lots of others, would lose her rational side in the lore of long stories with intricate particulars and heartwarming, tear jerking goodness that only they perceive to fully understand sans the writer of this lore.

Her Golden-Basset mix Indiana lay at the foot of her bed so that she could not lay full out, forcing her to lay in a fetal position but she didn't mind if her sister was the closest thing to her that she held dear, then her dogs were the second closest. Her Black Lab Goliath lay in the corner on the floor, snoring loudly. She snuggled against the bed and wrapped the blanket around her tighter as a cruel and merciless wind blew outside, whistling around the eaves and kicking up loose snow off ledges and the ground, making gossamer trails of snow spirits lifting upward and returning to the Queen of night sky… the moon with the halo around her head of frost as she glared down on Earth with her face full and bright.

Angel has heard legends and tales of folklore about the different spirits who lived on the moon, or were the moon and its power. But she knew it was just that… tales told to enchant; a world where magic happened and even in the evilest of deeds, the listener or reader would give anything to be there and feel, hear, see, smell and taste that world of fantasy that could be sweeter and bitter than our own.

Angel is 34… she had always been a nobody ever since she was born. But that made her normal… like everyone else that was her age, born into a family not seen on the news or in movies… no tales sung about her and her kin, nothing to remember but from what the family carries on over the centuries, which wasn't much. No great deeds to her name or her family. They just went on as time did. Steady and slow.

She had done as most do. They play as a child in mystical flights of fancy; they go to school, make friends, graduate, work and go back to school. But with her… play was augmented by torment from an abusive relationship with her father, neglected in fact by her mother but not willingly. It wasn't just her… her sisters and brother had gone through the same. Her peers hated her for all the trifle things peers would hate their own. The odd-ball… taller than all the boys or at least most of them; pale… red hair… lack of proper social skills… the works and she didn't make it easier on herself when she refused to try to impress any of them so they would stop torturing her by conforming to the masses.

Why impress those so cruel they can't enjoy someone for being different or just plainly be content with them? She didn't want to associate with the likes of those bigoting bastards. Preferring to pretend she knew personally the characters in her favorite books and movies and cartoons. It was a much happier place in her head and she wondered if there was ever such a thing as loving someone for something other than family and not be sexual, to feel that love and appreciation that she wished from another without the same stipulation of family and amorous covetousness.

She contented in steeling away into fantasy… to forget the long knife of reality that loved to stab her in the face, much less her back. She had fallen into many a tale. Many have come and gone… many have come and stayed, the ones that really moved her. She did not care that she is in her thirties and living a life of losing her time in a perpetual fantasy. She did her work… she paid her bills, what was it to anyone else if she stayed to herself and conversed with elves… or wizards… or giant alien robots? She wasn't harming anyone if only herself. But these stories were something she could make something out of…

Some dark stories of zombies and hero's who save the world from bioterrorism. To unwitting and sometimes confused and conflicted people who lost their memories or family members in an abandoned town where evil lurks in every corner until they find they brought themselves there by revelations at the end of their journey. Or about an old mad scientist released from an insane asylum by an F.B.I. agent to help assist on cases of Fringe science.

Some more technical stories of alien robots that come to earth after being chased by the evil race of the same alien robots who are trying to harvest our planet for energy to revive their own dying planet. Or robots built by man with a Super A.I. that gives them emotions and they are capable of love and are led by an eight year old Japanese boy. Or a masked marauder… clad in black… a white Fawksian mask who has an obsession with November. Or a hero boy wizard and his friends. Or perhaps that story about the little people with the big furry feet who mingle with elves… dwarves and wizards. About a ring of power… and the little things could be the most useful in success in the downfall of great wickedness.

She loved all these things, these things that would come and stay and rotate in her mind at all times.

The past ten years have been unkind to her. She supposed she should be grateful she is still in one piece but she really had wished it had gone better. Her family had been ripped apart several times by one awful scenario or another, they come back together as close knit families do, but never quite the same… somehow a little more damaged than before like trying to use a bent wheel on a bike. You can put it on the frame but it won't ever work properly. She had suffered injury that resulted in several surgeries to her abdomen that made life now on occasion a living hell. Pain it caused, and not a little of it. She has cancer. Most of the cancer was removed but it left her barren. A 34 year old woman, who never had children… who never will. For a long time, and til this day it bothers her. She still weeps.

Thinking about the hardships… not just of the world, but her own, she closed in on herself and grimaced as she looked out her window to the trails of snow returning to the sky on the breathy wind of the Queen of Night; felt her dog Indiana adjust near her feet before going still again and she closed her eyes wishing… wishing something would come and take her away. Something extraordinary would sweep her from reality and drop her into one of her worlds that she escapes too when she opens a book, pops in that DVD or turns on her PS3. She felt a despairing tear fill her eyes but they did not fall. She was teetering too far on the edge of sleep to cry for the things she will never experience. A curse of the human to have to plod endlessly along in the same song and dance as the rest of the nobodies who go on unrecognized and unknown… oft uncared about… especially when that person felt they could offer so much.

Down the rabbit tunnel she went into the dreamscape of sleep and her eyelids flickered on the last trail of conscious thought… of the movie she seen today at the theater with her two sisters. How the tale was a visualization of one of the books she tended to lose herself in once in a while… she smiled at parts that occurred to her that were similar to the book. The reenactment of such parts with faces to put with the words, character portrayals of sometimes familiar faces and the dire wish she could be part of it… or at least stand in it and see it happen if not directly involved.

She had gone from limbo into the deepest void of unconsciousness before the brain starts to flash images of the dream world to where everything is possible… and her eyes suddenly popped open as if a loud noise had woke her up. There was no noise but what sounded like the caw of an eagle in the distance echoing over space and time. The sound of the wind was making her hair blow hither and thither. Her blue eyes took in where she was looking out her window and across the street to the black windows of the adjacent house was now a field… emerald grass and flowers, no icy hard show with wafts of snowy powder dangling in the air. The air was warm… but still night. She realized she was not covered. Her head lay on a patch of tufted grass. She was on the ground rather than in her bed. She lay there, still looking ahead at the sprawling field that seemed to go on forever. Rolling seas of green shifting grass in a breeze at night, the sound of trees shuffling and what may have been crickets chirping. She thought this must be a very vivid dream and she decided not to move. Hoping her dream world would just allow her to get up and move about a little, she would like to see where she is.

"Excuse me, miss…" A gentle hand touched her shoulder and she jumped. She turned over and looked to see a little person standing there with a lantern in his hand. She laughed a little when she seen him because she knew exactly who he was. She had seen him on the movie she just watched about Hobbits.

"Oh, sorry. Am I laying in your field? My dreams landed me in a funny place, Bilbo." Angel said. The little man with the lantern and patchwork night rob perked up for a second when she said his name before he could introduce himself.

"I beg your pardon, Miss. There are a few oddities that I have experienced fairly quickly so it may have addled my mind. Likely I forgot something very simple or very important but…' Bilbo looked closely at her, the soft of the moon reflecting palely on his small face. "Who are you? Why are you in The Shire? How do you know my name and… pardon me, but… we don't usually mix with the big folk and a lady like yourself no less." He looked her over and noticed her clothing. "If you don't mind a question or two more… That is strange clothing, not something I am accustomed to seeing not even on the likes of man… and… are you lost?"

Angel quirked her head to the side and smiled. The feel of the grass against her bare legs felt so real. It smelled real. The scent of cut lawns and flowers with a faint hint of farm mixed with the fresh air of night. Her plain gray t-shirt was very loose and her black shorts were common for her to go to bed in. She was also aware of just how detailed Bilbo and his surroundings looked.

"That's a lot of information to answer all at once." She said with a smile looking up at him. She lumbered to her feet and stretched. She noticed that he blushed and looked away from her. She dropped her arms as if exasperated.

"My name is Angel. I am in The Shire simply because I am dreaming it… you are a figment of my imagination. Well… the dream of you is… you aren't MY imagination, although I can honestly say I wish you were. This is a dream. And a good one too. My dreams aren't usually this explicit." Angel said, wiggling her toes so that the grass went between them. "I know you because I have just read about you and watched a movie about you and your adventures. It was quite something, I love it." She said and grinned at him. "I know big folk don't usually appear here in The Shire so… I will only be here for a little while. I have to work in the morning and my alarm clock will go off and wake me up… that's if one of my dogs don't wake me up first." Bilbo looked very confused now and the arm holding the lantern had lowered.

"You think you're asleep?" Bilbo asked. Angel nodded. He was too confused to say anything else because everything she said made no sense. He understood the concept of having to get up and work… but movies… adventures… her reading about him… and dogs waking her before too long. She thinks she is dreaming…?

"If I am not asleep, then how did I get here?"

"That, Miss, is a very… very good question." Bilbo said and lowered the arm with the lantern all the way.

Angel is a tall 5'8" and to Bilbo's 3 foot stature, she had to look down on him quite drastically and he had to look up at her very much the same. Angel looked about and saw soft lights from round windows set aside The Hill and in the near distance, the open door and steps leading up to Bag End. A firelight glow was on the gray stone spilling outward from his open door.

"Do you have dwarves in your house? Or Gandalf… or Frodo?" She asked, marveling on just how well constructed the dream was. It was so real she could swear she was really there. She started toward Bilbo's door and he came after her, striding after her in a jog to her long legs.

"Dwar- Frodo? What? Who is Frodo and why would I have Dwarves in my house?' Bilbo stopped suddenly as she did and he had jogged right into her side and tumbled to his backside, the lantern clattering to the road and breaking. "Drat!" Bilbo squawked. Angel's smile faded. She turned and saw Bilbo lying on the ground and she knelt to pick him up.

"Oh sorry. I forgot… you're younger so you don't know who Frodo is. You do know who Gandalf is though, yes?" She asked and started a little slower forward again so Bilbo didn't have to get winded to keep up.

"I… think he makes fireworks. A conjurer; a wizard that has queer tales about him where ever he goes. That Gandalf?" Bilbo asked, his brow wrinkled in astonishment. She nodded.

"Yeah that one. Has he come to visit you yet?"

"Good gracious no. Wizards won't bother with the likes of hobbits. We are a quiet and plain folk." Bilbo said, lifting and looking at his broken lantern sadly, thinking he would have to replace it. Still… she had a funny feeling he wasn't being completely honest with his answer about Gandalf. If she remembered aright, he wasn't too happy that Gandalf had visited him.

"Oh, yeah I forgot." She said idly as she looked around, still enamored by the realty of the dream. Bilbo looked up at her.

"You wish to come in and have some tea? I have nice spice cakes as well. I can feed you before you leave." Bilbo said. He figured that she was lost and likely confused. She probably had some ale where she never had before and got drunk and wondered off. Bilbo wondered how drunk she would have to be to get this far away from where the big folk usually dwell. The nearest place is Bree. She couldn't have wondered this far from Bree wearing this strange clothing. Not even in the badlands do they wear such things.

"Sure! I have always wondered about Hobbit hospitality haha!" she laughed and plowed through Bilbo's gate and right up to his door, not allowing him to properly show her in, she let herself in. She perhaps didn't feel she needed too wait for him to open the door for her, the door was already open. She also figured since this was a dream that he would already know who she was and welcome her into his home. However her dream threw her a fastball and she had to make due. Besides, it will be interesting to see how she can manage to make friends with him, if she can. She also wondered too… as she walked through the low ceilinged house with the tube like halls and comforting warmth of firelight, how far off from Bilbo meeting the dwarves from the book she read did she land in this dream. She wondered if she would sleep long enough to meet any of the dwarves or Gandalf.

She worked her way to the dining room and looked in with a smile. She could see the hearth was alight and warm. She walked in, seeing the hobbit hole in much greater detail than her head or movie could ever afford her and she was startled a little, a funny feeling developing in her gut that told her there was something wrong… or vivid about this dream to the point of impossibility. Her smile, as the time in detail lengthened, faded and she was starting to look a little more perplexed than anything else.

She sat down on the stout chair and looked around her. She knew something was wrong when the dreamstate hasn't given her something completely unreal to know for fact that it was a dream. Okay, to her and anyone else, the existence of hobbits, wizard and such were the work of myth. So that in itself, her being here of course, was something completely unreal to let her know she was sleeping and having a wonderful dream… by completely unreal, she meant… flying houses with lasers coming out of the windows and shooting the houses below… don't laugh, she has had a dream like that. Or… of horses so small you can hold them in your hand…one hand. So far, nothing so strange as flying war houses and tiny Clydesdales has shown themselves.

Bilbo was in the doorway to the dining room and looking at her suspiciously. She could tell he was trying to be polite, as she knew from reading; hobbits try to be patient and gracious to their visitors. She rested her arm on the table and tapped her nail on the surface nervously.

"The tea is on the heat… it should be done in a few minutes." Bilbo said, not moving from his spot near the doorway.

"I have to say this dream is very realistic. I hardly ever have such well structured dreams where absolutely nothing but waiting for tea to boil is happening." She said, her face a little pinched with worry. Bilbo nervously smiled.

"That is dreams, Miss… this I am sorry to say is not a dream. Are you here from the West?" Bilbo asked.

"I'm from America. Maine to be precise. I used to live in Massachusetts but I moved to Maine when I was 19 and have lived north ever since." She noticed the strange look on Bilbo Baggin's face. Her face mirrored his. Okay, now it was getting stranger. If this knowledge she has is in her head can be said without so much as an uncertain stutter from her, and the dream she is having is in there also, it stood to reason that her dream version of Bilbo would know America, and Maine and Massachusetts without a quizzical look. At least… that is how she perceived dreams to work. The people in her dreams would be limited to her knowledge even if they had never come across it until she mentioned it. For they are in her mind and they reside with her thoughts too.

"What region is that? I am very learned in maps… I have never heard of America… is… is it another… world?" Bilbo knew that was the idea of children to think of things so ridiculous but so outlandish she was that he could instinctively think of anything else. "Are you foreign? You have to be… I have never seen your garb before… nor have I ever heard your lingo."

"Uh… well yes I guess you can say that." Angel said. She smiled again. It just had to be a very intricate dream and she will just let it play out as it sees fit. She didn't see any other reason not to. It wasn't like she was in Silent Hill or Resident Evil where the likelihood of her waking herself from the dream would be swift. She is in Hobbiton. The Shire… with a respectable and hospitable and… because he happens to really look like Martin Freeman from the movie the Hobbit, she thought he was rather attractive. Too small of course, but he was rather easy on the eyes.

"I think I hear the tea… excuse me." Bilbo backed away slowly and left her to retrieve the tea. She watched his shadow move down the hall when something or someone knocked at the rounded door that she could see from her seat in the hall. She leaned over and heard Bilbo's feet padding across the polished wood of the floor and grumbling to himself.

_"Who on earth…'_Bilbo muttered as he made sure the front of his night robe was closed, he reached over, grabbed the handle and hauled his door open. From where she sat, she could not see who was there but a figure stepped in and it perplexed Bilbo far greater than she had… or at least… he hid his real surprise upon seeing her in his field.

A short man, short but still taller than Bilbo walked in and started freeing himself from the bulky robes he was wearing. She could distinctly see the strange tattooed marks on his head that shaped to the crown of his skull. She grinned as she put her steepled hands over her mouth in awe because she knew who that was, unfortunately that meant that Bilbo really didn't know who it was, but he had lied to her about Gandalf. If this person has come to Bilbo's house… then Gandalf had already offered him the _journey._

The person who entered Bilbo's home stepped quickly in her direction, his thick brow line heavy and he looked as if he were constantly scowling. He looked mean as he got closer and she could see a missing piece of his ear brought into sharp relief in the firelight.

"Whose this?" The dwarf said gruffly. He didn't ask Bilbo… he asked her who she was. She had a hard time keeping the smile off her face as the dwarf looked at her. She stood as best she could and looked down at him.

"I'm Angel… its nice to meet you, Dwa-" She stopped talking at the serious look on the dwarf's face. She swallowed hard. It was one thing to freak Bilbo out by saying his name to him before he was allowed to even formally introduce himself… but this is a dwarf… and from all initial impression of him, not one to suffer shocks to his person by having his name said to him before he could give it.

"If I didn't know better, I would think ye came here by accident. Ye don't look like you belong here at all." He said. Never the less, he extended his thick arm and hand and she took it graciously.

"Dwalin… at your service, Miss Angel." He bowed to her, much the same way he bowed to Bilbo to which she hadn't seen. She was mystified… she looked at her hand as he stumped over to the table and looked down at a plate she hadn't noticed, or rather… forgot about that had food on it. Dwalin helped himself much to the chagrin of Bilbo who bit his lip, huffed and apparently went back to retrieve the tea water.

Angel sat back down and looked down at her bare knees and feet. She felt slightly conscious of her clothing compared to Bilbo and Dwalin and she wrapped her arms around her legs slowly when she noticed Dwalin looking at her again. In her books, these characters… men and women were always incredibly modest. Every bit or most of their bodies covered… what they must think of her.

"Sorry about my appearance. I really hadn't expected to drop in. It was sort of unexpected. But I can say I am excited, especially if I am allowed to come on the journey too. Again… assuming my dream lasts that long." She said innocently but stopped when Dwalin stood up sharply and looked at her angrily.

"How do ye know about our journey? Who told ye about it?"

"What journey?" Bilbo asked, a little more alarmed with a tea kettle in his hand looking between Dwalin and Angel as if he just came into the room when Dwalin rose from his seat like a spring. Angel's face went a little pale but the color came back fairly quickly.

"I… I know about it because I am not from here. You… and everyone who comes after you are going to Erebor to fight Smaug the dragon… to take your gold back." She said and thought it summed it up pretty well. Dwalin's eyes became steadily wider and wider with anger. She stopped at the precipice of telling him what happens at the end of the book but decided that it probably wasn't for the best to tell him that sort of thing.  
"What are ye a conjurer? A witch?" Dwalin asked in a heated tone. She shook her head.

"No… I- I'm a human." She said, touching her fingers to her chest. This dream was getting a little intense, Dwalin looked as if he wanted to hurt her… probably thought she was some spy sent to kill them all before they reached journey's end..

"Gandalf made no mention of dragging a strange woman along." Dwalin said, his arm muscles flexing.

"She means no harm. Really, she is just lost and hospitality dictates we open our door to the lost traveler… I can have whom I please in my home… stranger or no. "Bilbo stepped in. Dwalin pointed at her with a thick finger and looked at the hobbit roughly.

"She isn't coming with us. Thorin won't have it! The road where we are going is no place for a female." Dwalin said. Angel pursed her lips auspiciously.

"Well you will appreciate me if I tell you where to go and what to do."

"She knows that too?!" Dwalin fired up again. "Woman is there anything ye don't know?"

Angel smiled and shrugged.

"I don't know when this dream will end, but I have to say… you two are quite fun to be with. I can't wait to tell my sister when I wake up." She said and rested her hands smartly on her lap and stared at both Bilbo and Dwalin in turn with an appreciative smile.

"What the devil is she yapping about?" Dwalin said after a protracted pause. Bilbo shrugged and was about to say he had no idea when the doorbell rang again. The hobbit hole went quiet and Angel smiled even more. If Bilbo looks like Martin Freeman and Dwalin looks like Graham McTavish… then the next dwarf to come in will look like his respected actor too… she hoped because when she first saw this next dwarf to grace them with his presence she fell so in love with how cute he was she automatically dubbed him her favorite. His snow white fluffy hair and strangely curled beard… he was like a big gnome doll she wanted to carry around under her arm like a child with a favorite doll.

While Bilbo had gone to the door, as she knew he would, confused… Dwalin had gone to the shelf nearest him, apparently spotting the jar of cookies and jamming his hand in the opening like a big kid. She watched him with a fond smile and turned her head toward the door when she heard the voice of the newcomer rise to call attention to Dwalin.

"Oh!" The melodic voice said and Angel could swear she could nearly recite what he was about to say to his brother as he approached, but she sat quietly and watched it happen, the way a child's eyes would watch a Christmas display on Christmas Eve outside a storefront display.

"Evening brother…'

"By my beard! You're shorter and wider since last we met…" Dwalin said curiously as he looked down at the top of the newcomers white fluffy hair. Angel knew if someone had said that to another in the waking world it was likely to cause some fight, but this dwarf chuckled and grinned so heartily it reached his twinkling eyes.

"Wider… not shorter.' He corrected and added his own jibe to his brother. "But sharp enough for the both of us." Dwalin didn't get offended just like the other; he was pleased with the criticism. They chuckled immoderately, gripping each other as brethren do and when she knew they would they collided heads. She had seen it done before but it didn't stop her from bringing her hand to her head as if she could feel her brains too rattling around in her head from the blow. But it was nothing to the appalled look on Bilbo's face. They chuckled fondly at one another, Bilbo was trying to get their attention but their attention was taken when the newcomer looked toward Angel and he smiled at her.

"Who is this?" He asked as he approached her. Dwalin looked over his shoulder as his brother passed him and scowled.

"A female… what does she look like? Ye're not going blind too, are ye?" Dwalin jabbed at his elder brother who came over to Angel and bowed at her.

"Balin… at your service, milady." He said and she smiled toothily at him as he stood up.

"Angel… at yours." She said, nodding her head. She felt odd being so formal, people just don't do this where she is from, it was a pity too because she was just not used to people being polite to each other like this and because it wasn't how she would normally introduce herself to people, the words and actions seemed alien to her and didn't feel right coming from her, but Balin seemed pleased enough with her respect.

"Odd name. I've been all over the map and never heard that name outside lore… Where exactly are you from, my dear?" Balin asked and looked at her t-shirt and shorts, bare legs and messy red hair. He took a gloved hand and took a hank of her hair away from her ear, looked at it and then dropped her hair again. "You're not an elf, elves are fair folk… or a dwarf, you are too tall and thin. You can't be a hobbit so you must be a woman of man. But I can't tell you where you are from by your garb and I have seen many traditional dresses… are you a wonderer?"

Angel looked mildly offended by his first remark but thought to herself that he may not have meant it the way he said it. Elves are supposed to be extremely beautiful. She was lucky if she was average in the attractiveness department. So rather than be offended she smiled up at him. She didn't have to look up too much, he was kind of short and despite the fact that she was sitting on a low chair, she only had to crane her neck a little.

"I'm not from here."  
"That's obvious, but where are you from exactly?" Balin asked.

"I have already said it… if Bilbo didn't get it, I don't think you will." Angel said. Balin's slight smile faltered.  
"Try me."

"What's to try? She is spouting about it being a dream… that this to her is naught more than a fantasy of the mind. Like we're not really standing here." Dwalin said as he plunked his arse down on the seat and pulled a plate of biscuits toward himself. Balin looked at his brother and then back at the stranger.

"You think this is a dream?"

"Well if it's not a dream, what is it?" She asked and giggled to herself. She had heard that line in a game series she loves and couldn't believe the opportunity to say it was given to her.

"You know how to tell if you are dreaming do you not?" Balin asked as a loud knock resounded through the hall that made Bilbo turn exasperatedly toward his door. Angel's eyes were diverted from Balin's for a moment to see Bilbo rush down the corridor and open the door, struggle with someone at the door and two younger dwarves come in. A hand came under her chin and drew it back. Her eyes were looking at Balin again and she grinned, just because even at this angle and distance he is still adorable.

"What… you mean pain?" Angel asked. Balin took his thick gloved forefinger and thumb and pinched her arm hard and she yelped, pulling it to her chest to guard it from being pinched again.

"They say you can't really feel pain in dreams, or if you do, it's not as bad as it really would be." Balin said, gesturing with a nod of his head toward her arm. She looked at him as he gave her a knowing smile and walked to the other side of the table and a handsome dark haired young dwarf walked by, looked down at her, smiled for a second and continued on as if he could care less about who she was, why she was there and why she looked so different. Angel wasn't really bothered by his indifference, what she really was bothered about was that her arm still throbbed and her dream hasn't gone to something really weird and unbelievable yet. No blurry edges, no random flying pizza over the moon as random ideas flashed in her mind as she slept.

"This isn't right… I am asleep aren't I?" Angel said to the floor as a pair of boots came in front of her and she looked up to see the second blonde haired young dwarf looking down at her and bowed.

"Fili… at your service. That one is my brother Kili… you're not part of our company are you? My Uncle said nothing of a woman of man coming with us." He asked and she opened her mouth confused as she rubbed her arm where Balin had pinched it.


	2. Unwelcomed and Untrusted

**Thank you for the reviews. I was debating on how much I actually wanted this to go in the same direction as the movie or the book and I decided I couldn't really do that without making Angel overshadow Bilbo completely from his original standpoint in the movie and book, so this will be a completely new adventure :) Poor Tolkien is probably rolling in his grave right now. No disrespect to him intended. I just don't want to ruin his work THAT much.**

**I was stuck for a while on the decision of what to do in the story, decided she will end up being romantically involved with one of the dwarves (I bet you can't figure who) and since this is a lightly rated fic, the material posted will not likely be more than a shared kiss. So there is a warning for ya.**

Bilbo was walking around with weapons in his arms and slung over his shoulder like he was a public coat rack as the door was knocked so hard it was nearly pushed off the hinges. She watched him, in a towering temper, throw the arsenal on the floor and in front of his mothers glory box, shouting about poor taste before he opened the door and the heads of eight dwarves fell to the floor at Bilbo's feet, grunting and groaning under each other's weight. Hats that may have been firmly in place at one time now tumbled down and onto the floor abandoned. She looked back up at Fili and shrugged slowly. He stared down at her with his hands clasped together before him, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know what's going on at the moment. My mind seems to be playing a very well rehearsed trick on me..." She said and for the first time since waking up on the hill side, feeling worried that this was in fact real as she rubbed her still stinging arm.

"Laddie… can you help get the dishes out for everyone else?" Balin called to Fili. Fili looked briefly over his shoulder and then back at her. Her eyes displayed a shine of fear and he really didn't know what to do with her, not less because he didn't know her, but what business is it of his the troubles of the women of men? If she was in trouble… find a man to help. So he nodded toward her politely and walked away as the other dwarves finally managed to get off the floor and one by one noticed her sitting there and one by one in their own way acknowledging that she was there and not just part of Bilbo's hole in the ground.

After a moments silence from her as the dwarves bustled about, a frustrated Bilbo dancing between them with varying degrees of irritation, Angel noticed the tall thin gray clad figure walking up to her, weaving in and out of the smaller bodies of the busy dwarves and one very disconcerted hobbit as he looked down at her on her perch. As the wizard approached her she stood to her feet. After having read about this character and indeed seeing him in movies and cartoons, she hadn't realized just how tall the old man was. Her head had to still crane back considerably as she looked at him. Her eyes over bright… temporarily her confusion was dashed at the sight of Gandalf… for he has been one of her favorite mythical characters of all time and here he was… in front of her… in the flesh. She had a shaky smile on her face as she lifted her hand and rand her finger and forefinger down the length of the scarf that hung down his front.

"Oh my god… Gandalf… I am actually standing in the same space with Gandalf the Gray." Angel said on a giggle of awe. Her mystified gaze shifted down the gray clocked body and back up to the wise old countenance, the bushy white eyebrows and the gray white beard and mustache and… the iconic hat and staff. Gandalf only looked mildly perplexed about this strange woman saying his name.

"Who are you?" He asked. She looked for a moment that she had trouble drawing breath as she looked into his face.

"I'm… Angel."She said faintly. He stepped closer to her, his eyes squinting in a scrutinizing manner.

"I have never seen you before. You are obviously not a hobbit or a dwarf."

"Too tall… and I am not an elf… elves are pretty… I am… not so much." She said as if this was a matter of little to no concern.  
"Are you from Bree?" Gandalf asked, knowing it was one of the closest towns to have man in it mingling with other inhabitance of Middle Earth like the hobbits and dwarves. She shook her head.

"Nope. And I am not from Gondor… I am not from Rohan or any other place. I am a human… just and ordinary girl."

"And what business do you have in The Shire?" Gandalf asked perhaps a little more harshly that he would normally have. He didn't know all of Bilbo's associations and he didn't want to be rude if she indeed is a friend of his… a queer sort of friend but it wasn't his place to judge. He skipped introduction of himself since she obviously knew who he was, which was not uncommon. A lot of lands knew of Gandalf the wondering wizard who comes uncalled for. Instead he searched her for explanation of her accompaniment in this festive moment when dwarf, hobbit, wizard and now woman came together under one roof to share a pint and good food before waging a trip on the map of Middle Earth. She forced a smile and shrugged at him and taking her seat again.

"Just dropped in, I guess." Angel said.

"Did Thorin ask you here?" Gandalf asked her, looking at her suspiciously. She sighed.

"No he didn't. Thorin has never seen me before." She said wearily.

"Nor have I and I know many in this land. You are the first I have seen like you." Gandalf said, looking at her. She shifted in her seat a little as one of the dwarf's came by with a plate of sausages. She could smell the meat and nearly taste it. She was hungry. This is a really good dream. She had oft wanted to be dropped even in the most despicable scenarios in the most evil of games and movies just to be nearer the characters she loved so… had her wish been so powerful that she was able to enter Middle Earth and go on an unexpected journey with the dwarves of Erebor, Bilbo Baggins of The Shire and Gandalf Greyhame? That is ridiculous of course… in the world no more magic happens than what exists in the mind of the ones who write books and create movies and such. Beings that are walking about bold as brass are figments of imagination and consider those who take a liking to them as nerds and geeks and very much outcasts to the social masses. At least… that is what she has found. Still any world is better than where she was from where it was the same thing everywhere. No elves… no dwarves… no hobbits or wizards. All humans who hate each other for differences they think they see.

"I guess if this is real, I am screwed huh?" Angel said with a slight smile. "It's a good thing I am not completely helpless. I can defend myself. I don't need much looking after. As a matter of fact, I can help protect all of you because I know how it all ends. Its one of my favorite stories actually." Angel said until Gandalf placed his hand over her mouth.

"Are you telling me you know the outcome is of this journey?" He asked quietly. She searched his blue eyes. For as old as he is, his eyes were very bright and vibrant. She slowly nodded and he closed his eyes in worriment.

"Yeah… I know the reason Bilbo goes… I know what happens. I read the book many times." She said a little too loudly for Gandalf's taste and he hushed her with a finger over her lips because Oin the dwarf was angling his ear trumpet toward them to hear what they were saying.

"You must not… it is imperative… that you do not relate the means of the journey before they come to fruition, lest you ruin our timeline."

"But I can stop some really awful things from happening." She said. He searched her for a moment.

"You cannot stop them. They have to happen. I may not like the outcome of every quest I have embarked on and wish I could change it… but oft when situations occurs like this, to deter the rightful course and passage of time and consequence, something more frightful will happen in its place and you long to have it the way it was ordained." Gandalf said sadly.

"But-" Angel said, a fear welling up inside her… she hoped it was a dream. Now she almost needed it to be because she wasn't sure she was strong enough to allow the events to happen without doing anything to stop it… she felt a tool in the inevitable fate of some who are and will be present.

"Not a word to anyone. If there is word you are some sort of oracle… Thorin may not return to Erebor… Bilbo will never leave Bag End… and I will not likely want this journey to proceed and to my reckoning… they do proceed, don't do anything to hinder time and consequence. If we have to make you tag along just to watch you keep your tongue, young lady… we will." Gandalf said finally. He could tell by the look on her face and the reaction of her knowledge, that whatever will happen was likely not going to be good, but the less they know beforehand, the easier it will be to carry on, if death awaits some of them or all of them… so be it. "And if we can… before this is over… we will help you get home."

Angel was confused. This is the weirdest dream… the feel reaslest dream… the most frightening dream she feels she has ever had. The scariest dream she had, nightmare really, she knew it was just that… a nightmare even while the most frightening things were happening she felt she would wake from it. What made this scarier than the worst nightmare she ever had was she couldn't say this was for certain a dream and didn't know if she could wake from it. Pain… clarity… no one conspicuously knows her and where she is from.

Her fear caused a black stain in the midst of merriment, the only other person who looked distraught was Bilbo, who was pacing outside the dinning area, looking at plates and cutlery being thrown around and tossed hither and thither with the food as the dwarves piled the tables high with the hobbits food.

This isn't right… how did this happen? She felt tears fill her eyes a little and her feet tucked in as a really fat dwarf moved by her, his thick braided beard curled up and over his shoulder. He looked down over his huge red mustache and his even bigger chin at her, nodded and carried on with three wheels of cheese in his arms. Several others walked by with other dishes in their hands and Bilbo yelling in the hall as they cleared out his pantry and brought the contents to the dining room where there were more bodies than there was anything else.

She looked up from her maundering and stared at Gandalf's back. Did he really not know who she was or was he pretending and carrying on like he didn't know, the way Bilbo lied about not having seen Gandalf. An older dwarf walked by with a tea tray wrapped in his left arm. An intricate system of braids held his beard and hair off his face and shoulders as he approached her.

"Would you like some tea, Miss?" He asked. Angel looked at him… knew him as Dori and shook her head. The best she could do is not get attached. Some of them won't meet a good ending and she already hurt for them. She didn't want to know them more personally than the book or movie provided lest it be worse for her in the end. And the less a burden she was, she felt she could stick around and find a way home. She did have to work in the morning after all and did not want to be late or she could potentially be fired. Besides… who would look after her dogs?

"Excuse me, Mr. Gandalf… could I tempt you with a cup of chamomile?" Dori asked to Gandalf's back. She looked up just in time to see Gandalf walk away from him with a polite 'no thank you' and a request for red wine.

She wondered as she sat here, how much difference her presence will make the outcome deter from the original timeline. She wondered if Gandalf even considered that? How can she let them walk into situations she knows will turn out badly? She wondered if she could keep her mouth shut in that case. Would anyone just let it happen? Anyone who loves the story and as equally, the characters… little Bilbo, proud and courageous Thorin, sweet and wise Balin, gritty and tough Dwalin… all of them… She crossed her arms as more food came by in arms of dwarves who neither noticed nor cared to even look at her. She didn't mind… again… why get attached if this is a dream and she will wake up from it soon?

Or even if this is real, why get attached when she will eventually have to go home… She kept separated from them almost the entire time they ate. She couldn't help, despite her urge to stay as anonymous as possible, she could not keep herself from the sound of cheer happening less than an arms length away from her. She sat behind Gandalf and not at the table. He packed her a plate, she seen food flying from one end of the table to the other with blurring speed, several bits of something she couldn't see but for the wiz of its color going by ping off the plate before Gandalf turned and handed it to her.

"Here you go." He said and gave it to her. She took it gratefully but sat it on her lap and watched the table some more. There was no way she could keep her eyes from the action; it was incredible how these dwarves behaved when eating together. She sort of saw her family at the table during holidays when looking at them in merriment in good days gone by like the reenactment of a fond memory. She wished she was part of the camaraderie and they would accept her as such, but she knew it wouldn't happen. This thought saddened her.

She looked at one end of the table to the next and couldn't help but smile because they were all so cute, some in charisma rather than looks but they also had a level of charm… well… charm is stretching it, but she found them fun to be around. Fili was walking over the foot on top of the table after he filled two mugs with ale, dancing between the plates with not too much care, nearly overturning some of the plates until Dwalin, someone she knew to have already eaten, grabbed the younger blonde dwarfs boot and hauled him off the table so he tumbled over several inches and platters of food and into Ori and Bombur's lap. Well, Angel laughed with her knuckles in her mouth, Fili actually landed more so his feet were held up by Ori's lap and his upper body was stuck between Bombur's massive belly and the table. She turned her head in time to see Dwalin dump a mug of ale down Oin's ear trumpet, she caught Bofur toppling out of his chair with his big booted feet in the air while that end of the table erupted in ruckus laughter and unrestrained glee, not least from Bofur, who popped back up with a huge grin on his playful face, his hazel eyes twinkling in her direction, the smile showing her dimples on his merry face.

Angel felt a blush creep up her cheeks and she turned away until he spoke in that heavy brogue.

"Why don't ye join the company, lass? No call to be a wall flower." A couple of the dwarves laughed at his words, one of them even said-she couldn't tell who said it- and she was embarrassed because she wasn't used to that sort of thing where she came from _'too bad she isn't a dwarf, she'd make a fine dwarf woman'_ as she attempted to refuse at the appraising look on Gandalf's aged face.

"Come, lass… 'Balin said, lifting his leathered hand to gesture to the open seat nearest him. She sat gingerly among the smaller bodies, her and Gandalf taking a fair bit of room between floor and ceiling. And there she sat during the feast while fits of laughter and lobs of food went whizzing by her. They toasted and exchanged, what was in her opinion disgusting, belches of satisfaction from the ale they gobbed down. She wasn't against the burping until Ori, the one on the end of the table on her side stood to his feet in obvious competition with his brother Nori and let out the loudest and most annoying burp so far and she seen a few, like Balin near her, flash the younger dwarf a disgusted look while the others took ruckus pleasure in the display. Even though she thought it was disgusting, she still giggled a little and felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and a pipe was thrust near her face.

"You take a toke of the pipe, lass?" Bofur asked with that happy countenance. She looked from the corn cob bowl in his thick fingers, that was light and smoking slightly from the mouth piece feeling uncomfortable… sure that it was illegal.

"Don't worry your pretty head, darling… tis only pipe weed, it won't make you sick." Bofur smiled more, his teeth showing, his eyes twinkling, the outward jutting braids on the sides of his head seemed to perk up with a jovial quirk of his head. She leaned forward hesitantly and took a pull on the mouthpiece of Bofur's pipe, letting the foreign smoke fill her lungs. She pulled away, it had a distinct spicy flavor and it seared her throat. She pulled back, spluttering on the smoke as it came out of both her mouth and her nose. She went unnoticed by all but Bofur, Balin and Bilbo who came to her and clapped her back heartily.

"I would a appreciate that no one passes out in my house!" Bilbo said and rubbed at her back as she continued to cough and hack at the potent stuff she put in her lungs, but all too soon, she was feeling light, warm and very happy. She laughed easily and only remembered snatches of things that happened from there on in. She could tell she was high, whatever it was, and it didn't smell of marijuana, that she took a toke of, made her feel giddy and not herself, so when the first plate flew over her head, the length of the table as a scattered handful of the dwarves sat about talking and smoking, song broke loose and because she already knew this would happen, she was able to keep up with the song, singing with them, watching Fili dance in the hall making spectacular catches of Bilbo's precious crockery.

She found all she could do was laugh heartily as Dwalin, someone she didn't feel fit into the jigging and singing category was helping in the clearing of the table and the consequent song. She looked across the table as plate and cutlery sailed through the air with little effort and the sink man, whom she knew to be Bifur, caught a knife with his hand a mere inches from his face as he turned toward the oncoming kitchenry.

What amazed her was just how complex it seemed to her to actually sit in the thick of the action, picking out and listening to everyone's voices as they sung. Balin in front of her, tossing plates over his shoulder as they rolled over the plate in his hand. Gandalf laughing cheerfully at the antics of the dwarves as Bilbo struggled to get through the airborne dishes and dancing dwarves where it brought him to his table end and all the dishes by then were stacked in a neat pile on one end, not a one banged, dented, cracked or chipped, gleaming in the candle light.

Of course, all jollity comes to an eventual end. The dwarves laughed at the severity on Bilbo's face as it melted away at the sight of his unharmed dishes when there was a loud and thunderous knock on his door, that she knew was coming but still it shocked her when it happened. Every laughing mouth was silenced as the din of the knock reverberated off the walls and died.

"He is here." Gandalf said, looking at Bilbo. Bilbo looked confused as there was a great scuffle, the dwarves getting up and piling into the front hall to meet the new guest.

"What on earth… not another dwarf. I think I have too many as it is… when will Gandalf's surprises end?" Bilbo said. Angel looked at him and crossed her arms.

"Just you wait. Its not over yet."

Bilbo's eyes bore into her as she looked at the backs of the assembled dwarves leading to the front door.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I can't tell you."

"You can't tell me what? I am the victim here!" Bilbo looked affronted. She rose her brows at him.

The front door opened and heard someone come in with a deep melodic voice. The words spoken called attention to the one who opened the door and Bilbo had to shove himself between the bodies of dwarves to come to the newcomer in a obligation to welcome, however unwelcome, the new guest to his home.

Angel sat quietly, waiting, the conversation carrying out in the hall as she remembered it with little differences here and there, as if whomever wrote the script was only basing the lines off of what they remembered than it actually being word for word. The dwarves laughed and the dwarves backs that she was viewing had moved to the side and he came in. Thorin Oakensheild… he took one look at her and froze. She felt a thrill of fear… a fear that was not of him, but of the rejection she expected. His forget me not blue eyes bore into her hard, his brows knitting together angrily as he spun in place.

"Who is this, wizard? We never spoke of any humans coming with us. A woman of man no less… what possible skill could she have?" He asked angrily as he looked back at her. She was sour, no doubt, at his quickness to judge her… she almost forgot how foreign she looked to all of them and she caught herself before she told him off for his bold rudeness.

"She is astray, a traveler who landed here accidentally." Gandalf said, looking at her, silently telling her to let him do the talking. She of course let him, knowing that if Thorin kept his attitude up, she would not keep her tongue in check either.

"Let me guess… you are tagging her along too." Thorin said as he walked forward, the heavy boots on his feet thudding the floor as he approached the table and sat down. Even before his hands came to rest on the hard wood, there was a bowl and bread placed before him and ale retrieved by several of the dwarves. Bilbo was too busy being flabbergasted by the insult to him to really think of his host obligations.

"This wasn't the agreement we had, Gandalf. It was you, I and twelve dwarves, the ones who responded to my call… and you said you would find a burglar. So far you have shown me a grocer and a woman of man… dressed strangely… and someone who doesn't look to have any particular skill. What use would she be?" Thorin said and leaned forward, the curtain of his dark hair shod silver falling forward, god and silver clasps in his hair glinting in the firelight. He sniffed the stew and felt the bread.

"Wow… do you show this much doubt to everyone you meet? I don't imagine you have very many friends." Angel mouthed at him heatedly. As Thorin picked up his spoon, he looked at her.

"Where I have was forced to live, women who show this much skin is only looking for _one thing_. I can't think of any reason Gandalf… or the hobbit would have you in company. Is this the sort of riffraff you consort with?" They all saw a shadow pass over Gandalf's wizened face and he grumbled.

"You know no more of women of men than you do of your own hurtful words, Thorin Oakensheild. Pray never to insult a person before you know even their name. "Gandalf said. The other dwarves were silent. She sniggered.

"I think he just told you to shut your mouth." She leaned toward him as she spoke and he turned his head.

"Who are you and what do you mean to this quest and why had Gandalf included you in the number?"

"My real name is Violet. But ever since I was born, my friends and family have called me Angel. " She said. She paused and realized they were all looking at her. She continued.

"I uh… I am not from around here." She said lamely. Thorin snorted and looked back to his bowl. She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And I think the only reason I am coming is because this is nothing but a dream. I am playing it out as I go…eventually I will wake up."

"Yes, you said that before… what does that mean?" Bilbo asked from behind the other dwarves.

"Where I am from, you aren't real. None of you are. You are the imagination of a great writer. I was laying in my bed… my dogs at my feet. It was cold and windy outside. It was relatively early in the night, I know because I had to go to bed to rest for work the following morning. I started to fall asleep… I can't remember what I was thinking before I did though… and when I woke up, I was out there.' She pointed out the window. "On the hillside in my pajamas with Bilbo over me… waking me up. I thought this was a weird dream… it has to be." Angel said, noting the incredulous looks on Thorin's face. She pursed her lips.

"Strange dreams you have… or flights of fancy. You probably had too much ale in your system and have hence wandered into parts unknown to you. Typical of man to be so ridiculous." Thorin said and put a mouthful of the stew in his mouth. She brought her hand down on the table in frustration.  
"Dude… you weren't the nicest to begin with, but now that I am in your presence, the book and movie didn't do justice to just how much an asshole you are!" She said and noticed the red tint in Thorin's cheeks as he dropped his spoon into the bowl before him.

"_By Mahal_… Gandalf… this… _nymph_… is not coming with us!" Thorin said and several of the dwarves nodded in agreement, not liking how she was talking to their hopefully soon to be king.

"Awe come on! You can dish it but you can't take it? I am not a dwarf… I have no skill at fighting but I can be useful for some things, dammit." She said, feeling very angry. She wished at some point in knowing Tolkien's world of Middle Earth that if she had ever come face to face with the people of this world that they would be nice, peaceful and understanding and even tolerant of others who may not be easily understood to begin with. She really had hoped they would like her… but then again… it was her own whimsy… her own notions of their person that drove her to believe or hope they would like her… now she knew the reality of it. They weren't going to accept her. Much the way in her world no one accepted her for one reason or another. This thought made her upset and she felt tears in her eyes. Thorin and the other dwarf's discontent of her really stung her heart.

"You'd be another mouth to feed, you being human will take more food than we can spare to keep stock already… And if there is trouble on the road, you will have to be defended. We just don't have that sort of time to be caring for the capricious trifles of a traveling woman of unknown origin."

"I must interject here… Thorin. I have given word to help her find a way home; thusly it forces her to come with us."

"She will draw attention to us! Look at her! The halfling is odd enough, but a human woman who looks unlike anything we have seen before?" Dwalin said, gesticulating in both directions to her and Bilbo. Bilbo flushed and Angel cut her eyes at the warrior dwarf.

"We can help her blend in to our company by getting her appropriate garments. It is not uncommon for women to seek out adventure and should she be seen in the company of dwarves that is neither unheard of or uncommon either since dwarf and men have resided alongside each other for many an age, Dwalin… Never judge a book by its cover. The same with Mr. Baggins. He has a lot more to offer than you think. I am sure she is the same." Gandalf said, looking stonily at Thorin. Thorin growled in frustration.

"So be it. But she will not be our priority. She will learn to defend herself or perish… woman of man, who invades a world not her own and digs her nose into others journeys the way a dog shoves their nose in their masters hands looking for morsels." Thorin said pointedly.

"I can't wait to go home… suddenly you're not as awesome as you appeared to be." Angel said and looked away from his poison tongue.


	3. Not a Dream

**Thanks to everyone for the follows and comments and such. I appreciate it! I was suffering some severe blockage on how to proceed and I think I got out of it. Aside from the fact that RL hates me and just loves to make things hard for me. This is why it took so long to update it. Not knowing how to get out of one area and into the next. But hopefully I have unclogged the block and it will flow a little freer. **

***Note* The bold italic parts are dialogue (if not exact) used from Tolkien's work and do not claim to own it. That is his dialogue or like it. The rest is me. **

Well the rest of the night had gone pretty much the way she remembered it to have gone with only minor alterations in the sequence of events. With so much sour words flung about, Angel sat in the corner, feeling angry and hating herself first and foremost for not being the sort where people can just like her. Some people have that knack and others don't. She has never had that ability. She had always had to struggle with her mediocrity. Whatever she endeavored to accomplish it was always a case of pulling teeth, a long and tedious… sometimes painful process. It was like she was meant to get the shit end of the deal all the time, like that was her karma… she must have been a real doozy of a bitch in another life if she is reaping what she has sown.

She only stayed there in Bag End because Gandalf insisted she stay. She had a feeling it wasn't so much that he wanted to find her a way home, it may be part of it, but she had this feeling it was more like he wanted to keep an eye on her… make sure she didn't gab about events to come, if indeed they still play out the way they did in her universe… in the pages of the book these dwarves and hobbits and wizards come from. Rest assured, the negativity alone would have chased her away from them all… the lot of them, as she had always done. Run from everything. Perhaps this is why she wished and hoped if she ever had the ability to go to Middle Earth, the people would be different. But as she has seen since waking in this side of the dream state… they are just as judgmental and harsh as the people from her own universe. She hoped at least one of them would seem to be okay with her. No one overtly showed it, though she knew that they didn't know her… so of course they are not going to treat her like royalty or anything or even their best friend. Why would they…?

She listened to them talk at length about Erebor… how the dragon Smaug came down from the North and destroyed Dale… and then destroyed Erebor and took to himself all the wealth and gold accumulated there. Of course, she already knew this stuff, and despite her anger at Thorin, she couldn't help listen to him regale the tale in full and with all the professional story telling drama she expected. It wasn't a story of wonder or magic, it was a tale of tragedy and loss. Angel looked at their faces in turn, all the dwarves showing varying degrees of pain at the story and the loss of their home. She felt badly for them. For them… this is real… for her, it is reality now… or appeared to be and their sadness was infectious. She turned her eyes to Bilbo, who lingered in the background behind Gandalf and Thorin and he too, although stressed from all the company and subsequent emptying of all the stock in his pantry; he was captivated by the story of Erebor and the dragon and the exile of the dwarves.

Just for a moment his eyes met hers and he looked away uncomfortably. She too looked away and her eyes struggled to find a place to land that wouldn't appear she was staring at anyone or anything. There were just… bodies everywhere and where she sat, she just couldn't look to the side so her eyes settled in her lap.

After a while Thorin, at the suggestion of the home owner that they all go to bed and get off early in the morning.

"_**I'll fix you a good breakfast before you go-"Bilbo said with a wry smile. Thorin, who had walked passed Angel as if she was not there at all, but merely part of the many things against the wall in Bilbo's hobbit hole, turned and looked back at the hobbit with a quizzical sort of majestic countenance. **_

"_**Before we go, you mean. Aren't you the burglar? Isn't getting inside the door your job?" **_Thorin asked, the others who had been in the hall with Thorin looked back at him, again, showing varying degrees of emotion, Dwalin, the dwarf Angel thought looked like some sort of Viking warrior… albeit a short one, but smiled, wishing she could tell him so, but he would never know what she was referring too.

And after a brief moment where the dwarves stood among the sitting room hearth and smoked their pipes and sung softly the written lyrics to a haunting and moving song Angel sat in her seat at the table listening. She wanted to stand among them and feel their voices in her chest, but the melody whispered in her ears and she closed her eyes, listening to the full song sung in full rather than the sparse bit that was not shared on her side of this world where these lyrics and people were but characters in a book or whimsy imaginings.

She wasn't even sure when they had stopped singing and several dwarves, including Bilbo and Gandalf had walked about looking for places to bunk down for the night. Bilbo showed Thorin to a room down the hall and completely ignored her aside from the occasional glance. Most all seemed to ignore her for the most part. Only once in a while did she catch one of them looking at her strangely. The only one who came up to her with a drink in his hand and wished apparently to share it with her was Bifur. She thought it funny and sort of endearing and cute in a fashion that there was a bit of lettuce or some sort of green vegetation floating about the bottom as he encouraged her to drink it.

He encouraged her to drink it and she smiled. Not really wanting too but she didn't want him to think she didn't appreciate the gesture so she swallowed a mouthful and he gave a little smile, or what she thought may have been. There was a definite change in the light in his eyes. A person can seem happy or content and not smile and he smiled at her in his own way as he patted her knee and walked away with his own mug.

She sat for quite some time until subtle whispers of the conversing dwarves had silenced and some snores filled the hobbit hole. She didn't know where to lie down. She was getting tired and no one offered her any sort of position of comfort. The stuff she drank that Bifur gave her had made her very sleepy. Not so long after she had drunk it her head went to the table and she slept using her arms as a pillow. She was a bit cold but not freezing and truthfully, she liked it just slightly cold when she slept.

The next thing she knew her eyes were opening to a blazing light in her eyes. Gandalf was standing in the adjoining hall speaking to Bilbo while he read a note. She lifted her head slowly; her shoulders lower back and arms aching from having slept so long in that position. She grimaced as she sat up; quite a bit upset by the fact that when she woke, she was still in the hobbit hole and not her own bed. She looked around for a clock and there wasn't one where she could see it, sure now that she was late for work and that her dogs were probably still in her room and would eventually relieve themselves on her rugs. She grimaced at the thought. She sat up and something slid off her shoulders. She looked and there was a scarlet colored blanket with gold embroidery on it bunched about her hips. She didn't know who put it on her, the only one she could think of that would have that colored blanket, or who she associated it with was Balin and for a moment she was touched. Either he put it on her or someone borrowed it from him to cover her with. She held to it tightly and made it a point to find him and give it back to him.

"_**You have ten minutes, that means you'll have to run." Gandalf was saying to Bilbo. Bilbo was looking up at him, his face a little pale as he shook his head.**_

"_**But-' He stammered.**_

"_**No time for it." Gandalf said as he lifted an arm up, shaking back his sleeve and reaching a long thing fingered hand toward Bilbo, reaching for his keys. **_

"_**BUT-" Bilbo started again. **_

"_**No time for that either.' Gandalf said as he wiggled his fingers in gesture to take the keys. "Off you go." **_

Angel watched the interaction as Bilbo took his keys out of his pocket and shoved them in Gandalf's outstretched hand. Bilbo turned hesitantly and looked back over his shoulder, a strange look on his face. She wasn't sure if he made that face because he didn't remember her being there, or if he felt she was at fault for this, or he was asking her for help. But at she looked at him, he shook his head frustratingly and ran out his door, leaving it open. Gandalf stood at the door watching him go and she heard him sigh.

He slowly closed the door and as he did, she stood up. She wasn't sure what she meant to do or if he would even spend a moment to converse with her before he left to meet up with the dwarves and Bilbo. She pulled the red blanket up to her chest and walked out into the hall and looked at him as he turned to face her.

"Now… madam… what do we do with you?" Gandalf said questioningly as he sighed. She looked around her a little.

"Well now that we are alone, you can't just zap me back to my own universe?" She asked straightly. "I am late for work; my dogs need to be tended to… I can't stay here."

"I would think not. You are a stranger in a strange land milady. Wizard I am however… I cannot '_zap' _you back home. Moving mountains and moons is one thing possible for the mightiest of us, but moving the gates between realms of dream and reality not even the darkest or lightest of all powerful beings can manage that feat." Gandalf said, slight weariness on his shoulders or was it her imagining it? "We will have to search for a means to get you home. It is quite apart from my dealings to meddle in the business of wayward fair… but you happen on a bit of our story that wasn't originally written if your words hold merit."

"I am not lying if that is what you are insinuating." She said. Gandalf shook his head.

"Not at all. I do believe you were brought here not of your own decision."

"I wanted to be part of this, but… I mean… I can't understand how I can be here and no one would know how to get me back. There was something that brought me here; naturally there has to be a way to get me back to my world. Everything always has an opposite. Don't they?" She asked. Gandalf shook his head.

"True, things have opposites, however… some opposites of things are to break them. We don't know what this thing is to get you back to your home… we don't know what will happen if we try to opposite you from this world. We could break our world… or yours. We may even break both."

She looked at him with a scared expression. She rung her fingers and felt her heart skip a beat. She feared never seeing her family again. Her dogs. Her ferrets. She had never been away from them. She had obligations, work, college… friends. Gandalf warns about her pathway to home breaking her world or theirs. She didn't want to do either. If she did happen to find the means home, and it shattered this world, no one here would exist anymore. Does this mean the book would never have been written? She cast her blue eyes on Gandalf. She couldn't stay here and if she did find her way home, dare she cross that path to her home and risk destroying her own home too?

"What do I do?" She asked. She didn't know the answer to this and being the natural passive person she is, she was just as content in letting someone else steer her to get things done. Gandalf seemed to think for a moment and stood up and walked over to her, looking down at her seriously.

"For some reason it is plain you were brought here to be in this moment when a journey unfolds for thirteen dwarves and a very distraught hobbit.' Gandalf had some amusement on his face as he said this, his blue eyes twinkling in mirth. "Perhaps this was meant to be your adventure too… and you have but to follow that road and it will lead you to where you need to be."

"I know I said I can't fend for myself. I can't wield a sword. I have never seen war or fighting of the magnitude I know can happen in this world. I don't know what to do if I get stuck in the middle of a battle. I may pass out… I don't know if I can handle it." She said honestly as she looked up into his face. "I don't want to be a burden on anyone and I don't want people to feel they must defend me. I can try to do what I must to contribute to the safety of the company… but I know I won't be able to do much."

"All you have to do my dear is rise to adversity. In this situation there is nothing more rewarding that proving those who have misgiving of you wrong, is it not?" Gandalf said and placed an aged hand on her shoulder. "Come… help me gather some things up for poor Mr. Baggins. He left is quite a rush and had not the time to take any leisurely items with him."

Angel did as she was told, gathering the walking stick and some handkerchiefs. Gandalf came out with a bag that had some things in it to include the items she held. She noticed Bilbo's pipe and tobacco.

"Gandalf…" Angel started as she looked into Bilbo's bag.

"How am I going to blend in dressed like this? I have no money… no means of getting it… How am I going to get by?" She looked at him a little helplessly. He looked at her in turn as he fastened Bilbo's things into the sack.

"Well… I can help you as far as blending in. I can get you a horse for riding. And I am sure there is more than enough provision for you to take part of. Not all of it was bought or brought by the dwarves. "Gandalf said, tossing the bag over his own back. He noticed her sort of lunge forward a little as if offering him to take the bag herself.

"I am not about to make a woman carry something that isn't her own." Gandalf said. He reached into the gray satchel on his side and pulled out a small pouch and handed it to her. "On our journey we will come very close to Bree… dare I even inquire if you know about Bree?" He asked as he dropped the pouch into her outstretched hand.

"Yes I know Bree…"

"I can send you with a few others to Bree to gather some provisions specific to your needs. Not much, nothing that would be a burden… just enough." Gandalf said and noticed her crestfallen face as she looked down at the blanket in her hand that she mused belonged to Balin.

"This isn't a dream… is it?" Angel asked him. She looked down at her arm where Balin had pinched her the other night and she felt a lump appear in her throat.

"I fear it is not… You are a stranger in a strange land. More so than any dwarf in The Shire." Gandalf said. "I don't know where you are from. I can't open space and time to shove you through an imaginary door. You are just confused and have lost your way. All you have to do is get a map and remember your roots." Gandalf said. Angel looked at him with somewhat a disparaging smile.

"If you knew my roots you'd grab the nearest weed killer and snuff out the whole lot of it. And how the hell am I going to find a map of home here? Middle Earth is a map and story in a book where I am from… it's not a real place! Dwarves are real but they weren't made by Aule… The Valar never existed… Iluvatar never created the Ainur… 'She realized she was babbling about old stuff and didn't realize the look on Gandalf's face until he asked her critically.

"How do you know so much if you are not from here and the doings of this land and all the people in it are merely written in pages of a book for your amusement?" He asked. She stammered for a moment and shrugged.

"That is why I am more inclining to believe this is a dream. This stuff isn't supposed to be real. It didn't just foretell the adventures of Bilbo Baggins… but the beginning of time and the end of the 3rd age." Angel said. He blanched stood up straight.

"Well it is real, woman of man… and if you know so much having lost your way from your home to land here in such a strange land not known to you, then you do need protecting. There may be a reason for you being here… and maybe I was not shown because I am being tested. I have other matters on my plate but it appears fate has put another helping of dealing with odd people in situations not akin to their kind… A plate too full can spill over and since you are not on my list of agendas you will be the first to fall from the plate but there are others who can help protect you. You will have to count on yourself first and foremost above anyone else… because they too cannot take you on as complete burdens… not with Mr. Baggins in toe who… I am sorry to say is more important to us than you." Gandalf said. Angel nodded and grimaced several times. Oddly that statement didn't bother her. She knew why Bilbo was more important. And she knew too why she was the first to be cut off as she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.

"I know… I will do my best." She said and even though she knew Gandalf was right, she still felt a little hurt to hear that her plight was of less significance even if it is, some truths can go without saying. "If I knew how to defend myself and do what it is so many are accustom to here, then I wouldn't bother you with my presence."

He smiled at her genuinely.  
"Do not let the apparent harsh words of an old cranky man dismay your heart. Perhaps your wish to be part of this world was answered by a higher power and our higher power knows your higher power and they granted that wish. All you have to know is this cranky old man is accustomed to strange things and happenings. You are no different and I am usually a good judge of character and meanings… I feel you mean no ill will and are genuinely lost so… I will help you. I good civic supporter I try to be even if I seem like a temperamental ass." He chuckled. She did not. "Come… we must go." He said and took her shoulder, leading her out of Bilbo's door where she stood on the stoop, looking out over the emerald rolling hills of the Shire with an occasional head turning toward them to look quizzically at them as they passed. The other hobbits shaking their heads more at her than at Gandalf.

"You'll get used to being looked at like this from Shire folk. I have been visiting the Shire for many a year and you'd think they have never seen me before and would be used to my presence by now. The only thing they appreciate is before my coming to the Shire usually meant a party is abound. How despondent they will be now when I walk out of their land without the vittles and presents they long for and expect. Foolish people." Gandalf spluttered as he walked quickly up the lane, she jogged slightly to keep up with his stride.

"Where are they now?" She asked, inquiring of the dwarves.

"With any luck they have already started on their way from The Green Dragon along Bywater. Before we catch up to them, we will gather up a few things to start you off for the journey. A horse first. I cannot have you on my horse. I will need him to myself as I may have to leave them on the road occasionally and you should stay among a larger crowd."

"Is this a bad time to mention I have never ridden a horse?" She asked and he stopped abruptly and looked down at her frowning.

"Good gracious. Can't you do anything? How did you people get about where you are from?" He asked.

"I can do stuff! I can drive a car! I have my license! I even drive a big truck!" She stopped talking at the utter incomprehension on his face.

"I don't know what that is… but there is none of those things here and if you wish to get home you have to conform… that means learn to ride a horse or put all your mileage on your two feet. So if you don't want to carry yourself all the way home then I suggest you learn to ride a horse and quickly." He said a bit moodily.

"Well it wasn't like I was griping about having never ridden a horse… I have always wanted too. I just never owned a horse nor ever had the money or leisure to ride one." She said, a bit stung. "I assure you I will learn quickly."

"Well good. We don't have time to tarry. I can get you a horse and some items of necessity for the road. Clothing fit to wear for a journey of this magnitude is a different story. You won't find it in The Shire. That is why you will have to do with your garments you have now until we get to Bree and you had better hope that it doesn't get too cold, you'll catch your death in those things." Gandalf turned and started his quick pace again and she trotted behind him with a glum expression, irritated with him like she planned all this and it was her fault that things had turned out the way they had.


End file.
